Opinion

An uphill climb

Natasha Mayer Political Consultant
Font Size:

I’m not good at very many things in life. I could probably count them on one hand if I was feeling particularly reflective. I’m not the best in the world at anything at all. Of all the things I wish that I were better at, wish that I’d had the drive to excel at, it’s the physical. The idea of taking the one thing that God gave me and cultivating it at its peak, of making myself stronger, faster, and more beautiful, fascinates me. I am, quite frankly, insanely jealous of athletes who, through some magical mélange of genetics, passion and hard work, push their bodies day after day and compete to prove to the world and themselves that they are the absolute best at what they do. It’s something we mere mortals can only daydream about.

So how must it feel to be prevented, by outside forces, from doing the thing that you’re the best at in the world? What kind of fire burned in Lance Armstrong’s belly when he was lying in a hospital bed with testicular cancer, promising to come back healthier and stronger? How difficult is it for Tiger Woods to regain his momentum, years after his wife and the tabloid press vandalized his character? Any time an elite athlete drops out of the game, for whatever reason, it is agonizing to watch his slow climb back to the top.

Exactly such a struggle is, as I write, playing out on the world’s sports stage. Alberto Contador is without a doubt the best road bicycle racer in the world. He has won the Tour de France three times, and is only the fifth person in history to win all three Grand Tours of racing. And yet, through circumstances beyond his control, he’s being threatened with suspension from the one thing that he does better than anyone else.

The details are almost ludicrous. During last year’s Tour de France, while wearing the yellow leader jersey, he was tested for dope. The test came back with a trace amount of a banned substance, which was proven to have come from tainted meat that he ate the night before. Not only that, but the substance he tested positive for is used to bulk up animals, which would be a hindrance, not a benefit, for a competitive cycler. Even though he was cleared of the charges, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is threatening to challenge the ruling and keep him out of the Tour this year. And beyond that, he’s already been convicted in the press. Poof, one bad steak paired with an association all too eager to make an example of the best and brightest and Contador’s reputation, built with so much skill and hard work over his entire life, could be destroyed. It’s mind-boggling.

How can he begin to rebuild his reputation? He’s followed all the rules, done everything right, and it’s still not clear whether the UCI will try to ban him. There’s no metric for recovery from the damage that’s been done to his career. He can only do what he does best, lean on his friends for support, train harder and reach, again, toward victory.

It’s that methodical ride through stage after stage in life’s battles that I, the mere mortal, identify with. For me, unfortunately, the ship has sailed. I will never be the best at anything in the world, and certainly nothing physical. But I know that through all the challenges I’ve faced in life, all the setbacks due to volatile external forces that I’ve dealt with, I’ve slogged through and somehow emerged. I’m a bit battered and bruised, and I’m certainly not the best, but I’m good, and I’m getting better. What an uphill climb it’s been.

Natasha Mayer is a political consultant in Washington, D.C.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel